Strange window/alarm behaviour

[Gavstar]

Last night I came out to my MINI which had been left locked and alarmed. It was dark and when I approached the car to unlock the alarm with the blipper, I don't think the hazards flashed, and both windows were open about 2 inches. As it was dark I couldn't see if the windows opened before or after I unlocked it, but nevertheless it's pretty weird. Anyone else had this, or know what caused it? MINI are asking me to bring it in, which I will if it happens again.
Cheers

[JCWStevey]

If the car was in range of the remote and, say, you'd been sat on the remote a little bit, if the open key is pressed and held, the door locks open and the windows open.

[rfn]

My Mum's MINI Cooper (52) did this a while back. Left locked windows shut, and came back five minutes later and it was unlocked with the windows fully open. Locked again, and ten minutes later it'd be back where you started! A bit of a pisser when it was chucking it down with rain at the time, fortunately we have a garage so parked it in there. After the rain stopped we moved it back outside and Mum drove it for a week with the heater on full to dry anything that may have got wet out, and it hasn't done it since...

[Farky]

JCWStevey said:

If the car was in range of the remote and, say, you'd been sat on the remote a little bit, if the open key is pressed and held, the door locks open and the windows open.

Yep, exactly what he said. ^^

[slimmyreed]

rfn said:

My Mum's MINI Cooper (52) did this a while back. Left locked windows shut, and came back five minutes later and it was unlocked with the windows fully open. Locked again, and ten minutes later it'd be back where you started! A bit of a pisser when it was chucking it down with rain at the time, fortunately we have a garage so parked it in there. After the rain stopped we moved it back outside and Mum drove it for a week with the heater on full to dry anything that may have got wet out, and it hasn't done it since...

Hello, I'm a technician at the MINI factory, and this was a common fault on some of the R50's. There was an issue with water getting into the BC1 (body control unit), so when it rained and water trickled into connecters the windows and sunroof would open and the doors would unlock. On later models they fitted a plastic cover over the connecters to the BC1 (located in the drivers-side footwell at the bottom of the a-post). I suspect that this part is available from a dealership for retro fitting.

I am surprised to see a 7 year old car still experiencing this problem as i would have thought it would have been detected and rectified by now, unless it is normally kept out of the rain?

[rfn]

slimmyreed said:

rfn said:

My Mum's MINI Cooper (52) did this a while back. Left locked windows shut, and came back five minutes later and it was unlocked with the windows fully open. Locked again, and ten minutes later it'd be back where you started! A bit of a pisser when it was chucking it down with rain at the time, fortunately we have a garage so parked it in there. After the rain stopped we moved it back outside and Mum drove it for a week with the heater on full to dry anything that may have got wet out, and it hasn't done it since...

Hello, I'm a technician at the MINI factory, and this was a common fault on some of the R50's. There was an issue with water getting into the BC1 (body control unit), so when it rained and water trickled into connecters the windows and sunroof would open and the doors would unlock. On later models they fitted a plastic cover over the connecters to the BC1 (located in the drivers-side footwell at the bottom of the a-post). I suspect that this part is available from a dealership for retro fitting.

I am surprised to see a 7 year old car still experiencing this problem as i would have thought it would have been detected and rectified by now, unless it is normally kept out of the rain?

It's normally garaged, you're right. And until recently was parked under a large lime tree when she was at work. Since I told her off for this as it was ruining the paintwork, we experienced this problem. It's only done it this year though - and only twice. Been fine since that post!

[slimmyreed]

Well I don't know if you could get that fixed on goodwill (as I assume your warrenty has already expired). I don't think there was a proper recall, just a campain for customers with the fault. If you dont want to pay to have it done, one of the early fixes before the plastic cap was used was just to encase the bc1 in a plastic bag. Cut the holes for the cables, and seal the bag round the cables with some tape.